


if you want me to, i will.

by itsmaz410



Category: The Beatles (Band)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmare, and theres a Kiss, george and ringo help, george's acoustic gibson, john doesn't understand why and thats why he acts the way he does at first, john is harsh at first, oop-, paul has a panic attack, then he understands, then it gets softer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-17 00:27:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20611892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmaz410/pseuds/itsmaz410
Summary: For if I ever saw you, I didn't catch your name. But it never really mattered, I will always feel the same. Love you forever and forever, love you with all my heart. Love you whenever we're together, love you when we're apart.- I Will (The Beatles)





	if you want me to, i will.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: mazzy410  
send an ask! say hi!!

George is partially awake, the room dark and soothing to his tired eyes. He assumes its only around 5 in the morning, and he relaxes into the warmth of the sheets, inhaling deep and slow. He can rest for a while longer. Besides, he was looking forward to that dream he had had a few nights ago--  
George's eyes fly open again, since his awareness has suddenly kicked into action.  
And there's someone in his bed.  
He can feel their slack grip around his right hand.  
Right, what the fuck?  
He stills in his bed, chest rising and falling slightly as his mind reels, trying to figure out how to approach the weird situation. After a moment, George slowly lifts his head, turns his head to the right, and places his head back down on the softened pillow.

It's Paul.

George stares silently at the boy's sleeping face, only able to see a bit of it from the slowly lightening sky outside. Paul was sleeping soundly, but his eyes, lips and nose were all faintly reddened.  
He had been crying.  
George debates whether he should awaken the man and see if he were okay, or just let him be. He doesn't move his hand from Paul's loose grip, and he lays there, chewing on his lip as he wonders what made him cry.

He's still thinking up reasons when he's startled by a low whine. It sounds muffled and desperate for comfort or just some company. He blinks slowly. Nobody in the band owns a dog, so what the hell was a dog doing in his own fucking bedroom-  
Then Paul suddenly makes a gasping noise.  
It's shaky and wheezed, like he can't breathe well. George silently watches him with concerned eyes, but then the man lets a shocked sob escape his mouth.  
He can't watch this.  
"Paulie?" George tries, voice low but slightly urgent. He grabs the bassist's sweaty hand and squeezes, frowning when there's no response, just another louder sob. He sits up and flicks on the lamp set on the bedside table.  
It wasn't a painfully bright light, just a dull little one to let him see the room.

"Paul, dude," He shakes the sleeping man's shoulder. Nothing.

After a few minutes of trying to think of how to wake him up, Paul lets out a loud wail, thrashing around in his sleep, and it frightens George so much that he flinches and nearly falls off of the bed.  
Acting on his panicked instincts, he's yelling, "_James_!" and his voice is so thunderous, urgent and commanding that the bassist indeed startles awake.

The first thing Paul does is cry.  
He shudders and gasps, practically wheezing for breath, while George hovers over him with wide eyes, uncertain and rather anxious. He doesn't know what to do. He's never seen Paul like this before, and it pained him. "P-Paul, mate?" George hesitantly touches the man's shoulder. Paul jerks away with a rattling sharp exhale, shaking his head quickly.  
George wants to hold him, desperately wants to help him, but he takes his hand away.  
"What.. can I do?" He watches poor Paul cough as he tries to breathe steadily.  
Suddenly, he gets an idea.  
George moves slowly so he doesn't upset Paul, but soon he's sitting in front of the bassist, not close enough to be touching in case he isn't okay with physical contact. He waves his hand gently near Paul's arm, so that he feels the air move. The guy is still gasping for breath.  
"Paul, can you hear me?" George asks slowly, voice quiet but clear. The response he gets is a jerky nod. It's good enough for George, so he makes to continue and gently soothe Paul, but then the door swings open harshly, banging on the wall with a sharp thud.  
Paul begins to sob again, startled.

It's John, standing in the doorway, frowning while trying to assess the situation. "Why'd Paul scream? An' why's he in yer room, George? S'he okay?" His tone is dry, and he even sounds as if he just doesn't give a shit.  
George honestly just wants John to fuck off, so he can calm Paul down, but that probably wouldn't work. This was really not a good time to be interrupted. "John, he had a nightma-", he starts in a slightly heated fashion, but he instantly trails off.

Because the moment he mentions nightmares, John's posture changes completely, moving to lean against the doorframe and shake his head with a dry, sardonic grin on his face. He even lets out a sigh and a snicker, turning to look at George.  
"He's really not havin' another one, is he? God."  
George feels fire burn in his chest, and he fights back a furious scowl. Fucking hell, John. "Don't ye dare say it like that. Fuck, nightmares are downright terrifyin'. Don' go chasin' him up fer havin' them, mate."  
John lets out a deep sigh through his nose, his voice sounding tired. "George, stop yer rubbish, he can jus' look after himself, aye? He ain't a baby, mate, don' worry so much."

George cannot fucking stop himself as he begins to get up, ready to shove John against a wall and yell in his face, but then Paul makes a sniffled, choked noise on the bed. John's sly grin grows bigger, and George is seething as he sits back down. He didn't want to prove John right, but he just did without thinking.

They're about to go further and possibly fight, but Ringo appears in the door, blue eyes sleepy but huge as he gazes around, seeing Paul's teary face and John's rolling eyes. George looks as if he's about to murder John with his very own bare hands.  
"Uh, what's goin' on?"  
John scoffs, and whirls out the door, flouncing back to his own room with an annoyed air to his movements. Paul whines brokenly and suddenly grips George's shirt, wheezing out unsteady breaths. Ringo darts over, concern shining in his eyes.  
"Paul hadda nightmare an' John thinks that its immature ta be worked up over it I guess, and tha' we don' need ta look after him," George explains lowly. Ringo seems to bristle, but then relaxes, now focusing on Paul. He knows that they need to look after Paul, no matter what John says about it.  
"Paul, mate, can ye listen ta me fer a bit? Jus' listen ta me voice."  
When he sees that Paul's eyes are watching him, he begins to quietly talk about every fact he knows, ranging from weird body facts to the bizarre inventions of types of foods, grinning when George even seems surprised by a few.

Now Paul's not really crying much anymore, but he's still feeling a horrible tightness in his chest.

So he reaches out for more help.  
"Ge-Georgie, can you.. can y'sing, please?" Paul's voice is weak and he can't really string a good sentence together yet, but George understands instantly.  
"Y'want me ta get me guitar too?"

Ringo quickly sees that George's guitar isn't actually in the room, so he goes and searches for it, allowing the other two some space. Meanwhile, Paul is snuggled up against George.  
"It was horrible."  
George stays quiet, knowing that Paul's talking about his nightmare and giving him a chance to speak. It isn't healthy to hold anything back.  
"I couldn't sleep, so thas' why I came in here.. An' in the dream, we were in tha studio, an' fer sum reason I w-was holdin' a knife, an' was threatening you guys. I was sayin' that I was better than ye all, an' that I wanted ta go solo, an' then John told me that I was useless an' too much of a baby to lead a b-band. An' I woke up because I think he... or someone s-stabbed me?"  
Paul whimpers as he remembers the events in his nightmare, and George feels his sweaty hands tighten around him. Holy shit, that does explain why Paul got so worked up.  
"God, Paul. M'so sorry. Ye wouldn't do that, ever. An' none of us would ever try ta hurt you, understand? We're all equal as much as we can be in this band, an' we definitely have things we gotta improve on, bu' we're gunna be fine." He says, murmuring gently in Paul's ear, kissing his head.  
Ringo arrives back with George's guitar, his acoustic Gibson J-200.  
"It's me Gibbsy!" George cries, with a pure smile on his face. Paul admires how, when George holds his guitar, his whole body relaxes, and an expression of utmost peace and calm arrives on his face, his fingers running across the fretboard with an air of ease.  
When he begins to play, Paul recognises the song easily and giggles wetly, wiping his eyes.

_"Who knows how long I've loved you, y'know I love you still.."__, _George begins, and Ringo smiles to himself, tapping on his knees to create a drumbeat for the acoustic session.

"_Will I wait a lonely lifetime? If you want me to, I will_," Paul sings softly, his throat scratchy as he sniffles. But George and Ringo beam at him, proud that he has no shame in singing through his tears. John watches from the doorway with the most gentle smile upon his face, making sure nobody notices him yet.

After they finish up, Paul lets out a warm loving laugh and leans against Ringo, George's hand coming to stroke at Paul's sweaty curls. There was a moment of pure happiness between them all, feeling the adoration in the song pour into their hearts and into eachother.

"That was beautiful, y'know that?"

Paul blinks. It's John, standing in the doorway. But it wasn't like he had done before. This time, his eyes were full of warmth and love, his arms hugging himself as he smiles sweetly at the three musicians huddled together on George's bed.

"I'm sorry I said all those things," John begins, stepping inside and kneeling before a slightly nervous looking Paul, gently taking his hands, "I jus' didn't realise what ye had a nightmare about. An' I was judgemental, I didn't think nightmares were ever bad enough ta make a person have a panic attack. So I'm sorry, I'm fully here fer ye now, and ye can feel free ta jump in me bed if ye ever feel scared. If I mess up like that again, please make sure I come ta me senses again. Though I probably won't make this mistake, and I'm really, really sorr-"

John's rambling speech is cut off by Paul's lips.  
Paul's lips taste like strawberry lipgloss.  
And John's have a slight taste of cigarette smoke, and cherries.

George and Ringo make a soft "ooooo!" noise, and then all four of them collapse into giggles.

And the next time that Paul has a nightmare, he goes to John's bedroom.


End file.
